The 2020 puer shu (cooked) golden needle dawn cake tea is a product carefully selected by Tea Soul to offer an even deeper tasting experience and knowledge regarding the complex type of puer teas. The gardens from which the leaves of this shu come are located in the mountainous Bulang area in southern Menghai County. This specific area close to the south border of Yunnan, in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, gives birth to a lot of high quality puer thanks to the high quality material in the territory and the presence of several experienced tea artisans.
The infusion of puer shu (cooked) golden needle dawn cake 2020 tea has a copro capable of giving a widespread smooth sensation throughout the mouth. In addition to this characteristic, the fermentation of the leaves, gives the tea a special sweetness similar to that of some roasted grains such as barley. As the tasting proceeds, vegetal and slightly earthy hints will also appear, which, however, will then give way to a pleasant dry and balsamic hint in the aftertaste.
Place of origin
Bulang Mountains, Menghai County – Yunnan, China
Production
After harvesting, the leaves of puer shu (cooked) golden needle dawn cake 2020 tea are allowed to wither in the sun for some time depending on the producer before going through the “green killing” stage, which is purportedly similar to that used to produce green teas. In this case, however, the leaves are heated in the iron wok with a lower temperature than the usual standards for a green tea so it is possible to preserve some enzymes capable of changing the the taste of the tea through the time. Once cooked, the leaves are taken in large quantities and stacked to form large piles. The vegetable mass thus arranged is then moistened and covered with cloths in order to retain heat and to start the fermentation process. The producer here have to move and wet constantly the leaves in order to achieve an homogeneous fermentation on all the vegetal mass. Once this process is completed, which can last from 20 to 70 days, the leaves are spread and left in contact with air so that the microorganisms responsible for the fermentation dry up and die leaving the finished product. Once here, one can (eventually) proceed to press the puer in order to give it the best conditions to be transported and aged. To press the leaves, the producer exposes a certain quantity of the product to a strong steam jet for few seconds in order softened the vegetal mass and then wrap all up in a kind of sock or sac to imprint the final, usually discoid, form. To maintain the desired shape the sac is put under an heavy stones for several hours or under a mechanical press while the leaves loose the residual moisture caused by the steam in the previous phase.
Brewing method
We highly recommend infusing this tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to best enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation, 6 grams of leaves (about 4 teaspoons) can be used in a gaiwan of about 100 ml to obtain several infusions with different tastes. After a brief rinse of the leaves in a 100°C water you can go with a first infusion of 10 seconds and, after that, at the same water temperature, you can do multiple infusion adding 5 seconds every steeping time (10 – 15 – 20…)
This tea has a longevity of about 8 infusions.
To prepare the tea in the western style we suggest 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) in a 150 ml cup with 100°C water for a steeping time of one minute and a half.
The tea can be filtered for greater ease at the moment of tasting, and also the infusion times indicated above are intended to be purely indicative, so you can also adjust according to your personal taste.
Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.